Thank you for visiting our forum. As a guest, you have limited access to view some discussion and articles. By joining our free community, you will be able to view all discussions and articles, post your own topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload photos, participate in Pick'Em contests and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today!!

This is a VERY dangerous situation there. Gaboons are extremely dangerous
animals and as this thing gets hungry, it will stike at anything nearby,
and will not hesitate to strike at any person / child / pet that gets within
striking distance of it. The most dangerous thing about this is they are
the apex ambush preditors. They have a skin pattern that is basically
nature's perfect camouflage. They can blend in with any leaf, twig, grassy,
or weedy suroundings and be almost invisible to the naked eye. They can
stay in one spot still as any inanimate object for almost a week at a time.
Unless is it moving, it is highly unlikely it will be seen. The venom is Highy
Toxic (Top 10/12 most venoumous snake in the world), and have the longest
fangs of any snake on the planet (2"+), than can penatrate heavy canvas
or light leather covering. .... DANGEROUS SITUATION.

This is why I wish they would make people who purchase venoumous snakes
as well as Dogs (and other potentially dangerous animals), register the
animals and pay for a license to own them. This animal is not domestic,
and the owner could be easily found if they had to register them. Instead,
this is the result of either a STUPID PERSON'S Decision to buy an animal
they couldn't keep, and he released it, OR, it's a beyond careless owner
that didn't house it poperly and it escaped. Either way, there's no reason
this snake should be out in the area of Charleston / Mt Pleasant except
for the act of a brain dead individual who has now put a very large
population of people in extreme danger !!!!

I saw that last night. That's like the scariest thing ever, and I'm not visiting anywhere close to Mt. Pleasant until they catch it. I read those things don't let go when they bite!

The bad news is that unless the Charleston area has an extremely rough
winter (snow/Ice and stretches of days of sub 30 degree temps), this
animal could survive the winters down there that are usually mild. The
climate in the spring and summer are similar to it's natural habitat, so it's
possible it could survive.

The worse possible scenario is that someone releases a snake of the
opposite sex in the same general area as this one is hiding in now.
Then you have a recipe for disaster !

The bad news is that unless the Charleston area has an extremely rough
winter (snow/Ice and stretches of days of sub 30 degree temps), this
animal could survive the winters down there that are usually mild. The
climate in the spring and summer are similar to it's natural habitat, so it's
possible it could survive.

The worse possible scenario is that someone releases a snake of the
opposite sex in the same general area as this one is hiding in now.
Then you have a recipe for disaster !

Holy crap! I was hoping the average SC low country winter would kill this sucker since it's from Africa.

At the risk of sounding ignorant...is it possible this snake could breed with another type of snake?

Not real familiar with foreign breeds of snakes, but from what Little I know
about most of them, they can be cross bred only with snakes of their
type / species. Saying, there are a range of different sub species of
snakes that will easily interbred (ie: A forrest cobra, will breed with a
Indian Cobra, or King Cobra, or Monocled Cobra etc.....), but they won't
cross bred outside the species. A lot of non venomous snakes do, but it's
rare for them to do so in the wild....they have successfully cross bred certain
different species of non ven. snakes in captivity.

They only other venomous snakes that it might possibly breed with would
be Timber Rattlesnakes and Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes. Those
are very abundtant down there. There are also Cottonmouths that get
pretty big, but I doubt the cross breeding of those species would happen.
I'd say it's next to impossible for them to breed with any of the snakes
in the area. Hopefully it will be found or die out in the colder climate this
winter. If not, then let's just hope for the best case scenario and that
it doesn't find another Gaboon to mate with.

Just did a quick scan of a couple of good websites regarding Gaboon
vipers and I've got to say that what I thought I knew about them is
probably not true.

1.) Have always heard they are very aggressive snakes, but just found
out that Gaboons are actually very Non Aggresive and there have been
several reports from noted scientists studying them in the wild, who have
stepped directly on them without being bitten. Apparently they are
not willing to quickly engage an animal much bigger than themselves.

2.) The Venom is very toxic, but the number of bites are extremely low
compared to other venomous snakes in the same area where Gaboons
are found. They have the lowest death / bite stat of any of the vipers
in Africa.

3.) I was saying that the extreme cold would be what it takes to kill them
off, but in fact, Gaboons dwell in heavy forrest areas of Africa and tend
to stay shaded. They like the higher humidity levels which are common in
the low country SC, BUT....Gaboons do not like extremely high heat, and
most of the captive Gaboons will die of dehydration in climates of 90 degrees
plus over several days of exposure. So the heat of Charleston in the
summer might be more of a killer of this snake, than the cold in the
winter down there.

Just did a quick scan of a couple of good websites regarding Gaboon
vipers and I've got to say that what I thought I knew about them is
probably not true.

1.) Have always heard they are very aggressive snakes, but just found
out that Gaboons are actually very Non Aggresive and there have been
several reports from noted scientists studying them in the wild, who have
stepped directly on them without being bitten. Apparently they are
not willing to quickly engage an animal much bigger than themselves.

2.) The Venom is very toxic, but the number of bites are extremely low
compared to other venomous snakes in the same area where Gaboons
are found. They have the lowest death / bite stat of any of the vipers
in Africa.

3.) I was saying that the extreme cold would be what it takes to kill them
off, but in fact, Gaboons dwell in heavy forrest areas of Africa and tend
to stay shaded. They like the higher humidity levels which are common in
the low country SC, BUT....Gaboons do not like extremely high heat, and
most of the captive Gaboons will die of dehydration in climates of 90 degrees
plus over several days of exposure. So the heat of Charleston in the
summer might be more of a killer of this snake, than the cold in the
winter down there.

I was reading that they could not mate with anything that was natural to sc